Robert was born on 2 Sep 1821 to Robert William and Mary Lee at Heacham in the north west corner of Norfolk in England.  The registry of his baptism is maintained at St. Mary's church in Heacham.  When he was almost 14 years old, in the summer of 1834, he came with his family to Ontario where they settled near Woodstock.  He was "bound out" or indentured to a neighbor, David Ford.  In 1836 he came with Ford to Richland township in Michigan, where Ford cleared his farm on the edge of the Richland prairie at what is now 5731 H Avenue East, three miles north of Comstock, Michigan.

Robert married Julia Ann Aldrich (1830-1907) north of Galesburg on 5 Dec 1847. The wedding took place in the home of Julia's parents, Fay and Lura Aldrich (now 1950 N. 36th Street). Julia was born 2 Dec 1830 six miles from Angelica, Allegheny County, New York. She had come to Michigan from New York State with her parents in 1834. She remembered the long journey by oxcart, especially the crossing of the Maumee swamp in Ohio.

Robert bought David Ford's farm, the s/w quarter of section 6, and built an 18' by 20' log cabin on it. Robert and Julia lived in the log cabin for nine years, until a more formal farmhouse was built in 1856, at what is now 5731 H Avenue East. The farm eventually grew until it included 192 acres, 140 acres of which had been cleared by Robert and his family.¹ The huge Meijer's Thrifty Acres (Gull Road) store is located on part of the land which was the Jickling farm.

Robert and Julia had eleven children:

 1     Adeline Jickling (1848-1919)
 2     Marquis Jickling (1850-1913)
 3     Lura Jickling (1852-1912)
 4     Mary Jickling (1854-1932)
 5     Sarah Jickling (1857-1888)
 6     Ella Jickling (1860-1938)
 7     Albert Jickling (1862-1934)
 8     Walter Jickling (1864-1939)
 9     Emma Jickling (1867-1889)
10    Clara Jickling (1869-1894)
11    Howard Jickling (1873-1957)

Robert stated his intention to become a U.S. citizen on 20 Nov 1854. He hired someone to serve in the Civil War in his stead and stayed home to raise profitable wheat crops.

In the 1880 census the 58 year old Robert had these family members in his Comstock township household: Julia Ann age 49, Adaline [sic] 31, Albert 17, Walter 15, Clara 10 and Howard B. 6.

Lee Jickling (1889-1970) remembered his Grandfather Jickling well. He rode his bicycle out from Kalamazoo on many summer days to visit. Lee recalled his Grandmother Jickling's beautiful auburn hair. They would tell stories of an occasional Indian who would come to their back porch and sit quietly hoping to receive some food from the kitchen.

Robert served for many years as "director" for the Jickling School, still standing as part of the house located at 6011 H Ave East, at the corner of 26th Street.  Six of the Jickling children served as teachers at the one-room Jickling School and all of them probably studied there. On early 20th century maps, 26th Street was identified as "Jickling Road".

Robert died on 24 Oct 1904 at the home of his daughter Adeline in Richland and was buried at Riverside Cemetery, Kalamazoo. Julia continued to live with Adeline until her death on 12 Jan 1907. She was buried beside her husband. A photograph of their grave stones is included in Annex 7.

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